Impulse and momentum play an important role in everyday society. One excellent example of an everyday user would be professional football players. These football players are not scientists but they definitely know that they must use impulse and momentum during their job as much as a scientist would use it during theirs. In a game a defensive player must apply an extended force on an offensive player with the ball for a long period of time so that he may stop the player’s momentum. This fact helps prove that physics is in everything and is typically used in everyday life whether we completely know it or not. [1]
Momentum
Have you ever wondered how things move or why an object ricochets the way it does? Well the answers to most of those questions are simply impulse and momentum. Momentum is in EVERY moving body, but a body at rest has no momentum at all. Momentum originated from Isaac Newton’s second law, this law states that an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted on by an outside force. This relates to momentum because momentum is the continuous forward motion of an object without outside help. Momentum is measured by multiplying mass times velocity, when an object has momentum it is hard to stop. By using impulse you will be able to stop an object with some momentum. [2]
Impulse
Impulse is a change in momentum. A great example of this would involve two
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hockey players in a collision. There are two hockey players, hockey player A and hockey player B. When hockey player A is skating across the ice rink and hockey player B comes in contact with hockey player A, hockey player A’s speed is altered, thus altering his momentum. Depending on the force applied by each of the two hockey players, one of the hockey players course would be completely altered. On the other hand, the hockey player with the greatest force would not change his direction; instead his speed would be the only thing that changes. [3]
Elastic and Inelastic Collision
There are two types of collisions, elastic and inelastic. One of the collisions involves two objects colliding and bouncing off of each other. This collision is called an elastic collision. Where as the other collision involves them colliding and then the objects stick together. This specific type of collision is called an inelastic collision”. In an elastic collision two objects must be involved, the same with an inelastic collision. As an example in elastic collision I will use the sport boccie ball. In boccie ball, a player must hit a designated ball into another designated ball. When these two balls come in contact, the first ball hit by the player stops in the spot of the ball hit by the first ball. This shows that the objects momentum and kinetic energy were conserved. A great example of an inelastic collision would be this, a person throws a baseball sized ball of tape at another baseball sized ball of tape. When these two balls of tape come in contact they stick together and they both tend to travel in the exact same direction and they also tend to not lose any speed in the process of this bonding collision. Another example of inelastic collision would be a car accident, a car t bones another car. They stick together and momentum is conserved although kinetic energy is not. Some energy goes towards other things like sound.[4]
Equations
impulse=(mass)(change in velocity)
momentum(p)=(mass)(velocity)
Vocabulary
Velocity - Speed with a direction
Inertia - The resistance an object that changes its state of rest.
Acceleration - The change in velocity over time.
Kinetic energy - The energy an object has because of its motion.
Collision - Two objects collide and transform their energy.
Law of Conservation of Momentum - With no outside force momentum is conserved.
Vector - A quantity that has magnitude and direction.
Force - A push that affects the speed or direction of an object or system.
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In the picture above the left side shows that when you increase the time to a collision, you will decrease the force that is used.
On the right side it shows that when you reduce the time till impact, the force is much greater and can cause more damage.
Table of Contents
The Relationship
Impulse and momentum play an important role in everyday society. One excellent example of an everyday user would be professional football players. These football players are not scientists but they definitely know that they must use impulse and momentum during their job as much as a scientist would use it during theirs. In a game a defensive player must apply an extended force on an offensive player with the ball for a long period of time so that he may stop the player’s momentum. This fact helps prove that physics is in everything and is typically used in everyday life whether we completely know it or not. [1]
Momentum
Have you ever wondered how things move or why an object ricochets the way it does? Well the answers to most of those questions are simply impulse and momentum. Momentum is in EVERY moving body, but a body at rest has no momentum at all. Momentum originated from Isaac Newton’s second law, this law states that an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted on by an outside force. This relates to momentum because momentum is the continuous forward motion of an object without outside help. Momentum is measured by multiplying mass times velocity, when an object has momentum it is hard to stop. By using impulse you will be able to stop an object with some momentum. [2]
Impulse
Impulse is a change in momentum. A great example of this would involve two
hockey players in a collision. There are two hockey
players, hockey player A and hockey player B. When hockey player A is skating across the ice rink and hockey player B comes
in contact with hockey player A, hockey player A’s speed is altered, thus altering his momentum. Depending on the force applied by each of the two hockey players, one of the hockey players course would be completely altered. On the other hand, the hockey player with the greatest force would not change his direction; instead his speed would be the only thing that changes. [3]
Elastic and Inelastic Collision
There are two types of collisions, elastic and inelastic. One of the collisions involves two objects colliding and bouncing off of each other. This collision is called an elastic collision. Where as the other collision involves them colliding and then the objects stick together. This specific type of collision is called an inelastic collision”. In an elastic collision two objects must be involved, the same with an inelastic collision. As an example in elastic collision I will use the sport boccie ball. In boccie ball, a player must hit a designated ball into another designated ball. When these two balls come in contact, the first ball hit by the player stops in the spot of the ball hit by the first ball. This shows that the objects momentum and kinetic energy were conserved. A great example of an inelastic collision would be this, a person throws a baseball sized ball of tape at another baseball sized ball of tape. When these two balls of tape come in contact they stick together and they both tend to travel in the exact same direction and they also tend to not lose any speed in the process of this bonding collision. Another example of inelastic collision would be a car accident, a car t bones another car. They stick together and momentum is conserved although kinetic energy is not. Some energy goes towards other things like sound. [4]
Equations
Vocabulary
In the picture above the left side shows that when you increase the time to a collision, you will decrease the force that is used.
On the right side it shows that when you reduce the time till impact, the force is much greater and can cause more damage.
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